The Four Horsemen
by Hephaestus-Cabin-Counselor
Summary: Leo Valdez and the Seven must fight the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse to save Camp Halfblood. Will they survive? More chapters to come.
1. The News

The Four Horsemen

On July 7th, it was a normal day in Camp Halfblood, at least, at first it was. The sun was shining, a few clouds in the sky, everyone chatting and laughing during lunchtime, and some games to play led by the Camp Leader, Chiron. Dionysus, or as he likes to be known as, Mr. D, was a Camp Leader as well, but he never liked many of the demigods in Camp Halfblood, other than his sons, Pollux and Castor. Unfortunately, Castor had died in a battle years before, and Dionysus has been on edge trying to keep Pollux alive.

Leo Valdez, a son of Hephaestus, was outside in the sun, fiddling with his Archimedes Sphere, which he had taken a few years in the past, during a quest. He made small changes in the circuits, fixed them, and looked for more things to fiddle with. Small projects like mechanical songbirds and insects. A few hours crept by, and Leo set down the Sphere. He sighed, put his arms behind his head, and stared at the sun from his spot in which he was fiddling with the Sphere, as the sun started to set.

After about 10 minutes of sun-watching, Leo stood up, grabbed his sphere, and headed back to the Hephaestus cabin. His last project of the day was a mechanical snake, which would hiss and bite at anyone who tried to enter his room. Leo's room used to belong to the old Hephaestus cabin leader, Charles Beckendorf, but he had died in an explosion when Kronos the Time Titan had risen and attacked Olympus. There wasn't much left to do with Leo's snake project, but he made a few finishing touches, and installed it to his wall, hidden, so that it would pop out and scare the intruder.

Suddenly, Archimedes' Sphere had started to whirl and make noises, that sounded like rusty gears trying to work in strong wind. Leo whipped around and opened the Sphere, investigating for the problem. He imagined the problem to be something simple and full of naïveté, like a gear going loose. After about 15 minutes of sweat, investigating, and loud whirring, Leo couldn't find a single problem in the Sphere. Leo gave up and groaned in exasperation, then set his Sphere under his bed to try and silence the noise. And then he heard the grunt of someone pulling the lever to his room.

"Leo, you better not have any traps down there for me, it's an emergency!" Leo heard his friend, Jason's voice, call from the elevator to his room. "Something is happening in Camp that we'll need your help with."

"Another wild machine?" Leo joked, as he deactivated his mechanical snake alarm and sat on his bed, waiting for Jason to reach the room.

"No, no, nothing like that, this is serious," Jason had responded, as the elevator reached Leo's room. He walked into the room, and took a quick glance around. "I'm not sure how often I've been down here, if I have at all."

"Well then welcome to my lovely abode," said Leo. He gestured to the workshop with a small bed, which he had called his bedroom. "A few machines, but still very welcoming." Jason blew air out of his nose in a way of laughing, and then turned serious.

"Ok, Leo, I've told Frank, Piper, Percy, Annabeth, and Hazel already about what's happening. You're the last one I have to tell about what's happening," Jason began.

"If this is such a big deal, why not just get on with it already?" questioned an impatient Leo. Jason sighed silently under his breath.

"You know the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse? Famine, Pestilence, Death, and War? All four of them are coming to attack Camp Halfblood, and Chiron needs us to get together and protect the Camp." Jason explained.

"Do the other campers know?" Leo asked. "I mean, if the Four Minihorse Riders are coming to attack the Camp, then everyone would be scrambling to build defenses and get ready for a battle."

"Chiron is making an announcement tomorrow during lunch, so that everyone will know at the same time. He's only told us a day early because he needs us to be in the front lines. He needs us to defend the camp, and drive away the Horsemen. Chiron only told me earlier today because he wanted us to be able to know about the oncoming attack, and let it sink in during the night." Jason continued. "These aren't your ordinary immortals we're dealing with here. The Horsemen came before the Titans and Gods. Just older than Gaea and Ouranos. Nothing can kill them, they can only be driven back. They have their eyes set on Camp this millenium.

"If they can't be killed, how are we going to protect ourselves from them?" Leo asked. "I mean, if they're older than old Dirt Face, how are we going to hurt them, or even _touch _them?"

"That's the thing, Chiron doesn't know," Jason told Leo. "He needs us to figure it out, or else the Horsement will take over the Camp, and destroy Western Civilization as we know it. They've never attacked Camp Halfblood before, so even Chiron has no experience on how to protect ourselves. All we know is that they're old, ride horses, and can move as a form of aura at will."

"Will they attack all at once, or one at a time?" Leo questioned. _Great, this sounds absolutely perfect. If they're older than Gaea, I'm not sure if there even is a way to defeat them. But we can't let a few rodeo horse riders come and take over Camp Halfblood! _

"We don't know that either. No can or will know. Wherever the Horsemen have attacked, no one has known how to protect themselves, so each and every time they attack, everyone in that area goes somewhere even further than the Underworld. Further than even Tartarus, Chaos, and Nyx," Jason said with a heavy tone. A few beads formed on his forehead, and he shivered. "I can't imagine being somewhere where we aren't even in a form of being. Stuck there eternally, in pain, suffering..."

"Hey, Jason, we're not going to let a few Muleriders take over the Camp. We'll find a way," Leo stated. He stood up, got out a cinnamon candy, which he always kept in his pockets, and threw one to Jason. "Here, take one, and get some sleep. You seem a bit shaken." _Yeah, shaken is an understatement._

"T-thanks, Leo," Jason thanked, and unwrapped the candy. He put it in his mouth, and went back in the elevator, ready to go back to the Zeus cabin to get some sleep. Leo let Jason's word mull over a bit in his mind, and then got out some paper, and started making plans for machines and mechanisms to protect the camp from the Horsemen. _No way in Tartarus am I going to let his camp be taken down. I swear it on the River Styx._


	2. The First Horseman has come

The Four Horsemen

Leo hadn't got that much sleep overnight. His work kept him awake. He made machines that could stop ghosts, regular forms of beings, but he could not figure out how to build a machine to stop an aura. Auras are in their own form of being. Not many things can keep them away. Leo tried everything he could think of: celestial bronze (small amounts), regular metals, and other things he found around camp. _Come on... there's got to be something that can prevent these guys from getting here and destroying us! _When Leo couldn't think of anything else. He dropped his work, grabbed his Sphere, and went to his bed. He fiddled with it for a short while, and eventually went to sleep.

"Leo! Come on, Leo, wake up already," Leo heard Frank Zhang's voice tell him. Frank Zhang is a son of Mars, the Roman persona of Ares. Buff, ever since he received a gift from his father, Asian, and Canadian. "Get ready, quickly, you've slept in too much, and now it's almost lunchtime."

"What? Already?" asked Leo. He sat up, put a hand on his aching head and looked at Frank. "Is it really that late already?" _I can't have slept THAT much. Did I really spend that much time awake last night working on ideas? _

"No, Leo, I'm only joking, of course you did!" Frank responded. He sighed. "Come on, just get up. Chiron's waiting for you." Frank went over to Leo's elevator, pulled the lever, and was on his way to leave the Hephaestus Cabin. Leo groaned and got out of bed. He found some new clothes to wear, got himself ready, and left to the Big House. _It's a nice day, not counting the fact that the whole camp was about to hear that they could be stuck forever suffering in an endless void. Yeah, definitely a good day._ So far, everyone was calm and happy. The remaining Hephaestus campers were working in the forges, the Aphrodite campers were out putting new flowers in front of their cabin, the Hermes cabin appearing to be talking in the open area of their cabin, and the Ares cabin out practicing some fighting tactics. The Apollo cabin was out learning some healing remedies from plants that the Satyrs were showing them.

Once Leo reached the Big House and went inside, he saw Jason, Frank, Piper, Hazel, Percy, and Annabeth were all waiting for him. Chiron sat in front of them in his wheelchair, staring at Leo as he walked in with his serious eyes. Leo would have wondered why his face was so stern if he hadn't been told by Jason last night about the attack coming to the Camp. Leo walked in between Jason and Frank, and then looked to Chiron for an explanation.

"All right, now everyone is here. As Jason has told you yesterday, the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are coming to attack Camp. No place has ever survived an attack from the Horsemen, and if there has somehow been a single escapee, they would be too shaken to tell us how to survive. The Horsemen are as follows: Death, Famine, War, and Pestilence. Judging from the stories I have found overnight, they do not attack all at once, thank the Gods. If they would have, we'd stand no chance. Famine strikes first, then Pestilence, War, and then Death. Famine attacks with spoiling the food, and making it so that we won't have anything to survive off of. He cannot spoil ambrosia, fortunately, but on the other hand, it is rare, so we must eat if it is truly Pestilence, who makes us sick from not eating. He crazes our mind, and makes us move and weaken, so that the sickness will kill us. War will then come, and make us all fight over the food that Famine will provide to War, and try to kill us with each other. You must keep everyone under control."

"And Death?" Percy Jackson asked. Son of Poseidon, black and messy hair, smells like the ocean. You get the idea. "How will we keep ourselves safe from Death?" Chiron sighed, leaned forward in his wheelchair, laced his fingers together, and closed his eyes.

"I do not know. The only counter to Death is Life. We must find a way to keep away from Death, and stay alive until he gets frustrated, and leaves. He can kill anyone at will, and will take them to the void. He is the End, the Beginning, and everything in Between. We cannot stop him, he will stop us, unless we hide from him. I have an idea on how to do this, we just need to prepare for Famine to-"

"What's happening to the food!? It's turning rotten!" a loud voice rang from near the lunch area.

"Oh no, the Horsemen are coming earlier than I had every expected," Chiron stated, looking at the door. "Percy, Annabeth, Frank, Jason, Piper, Hazel, calm everyone down and explain the situation. Leo, you go and set up your machines around camp. Go! NOW!" Chiron took his horse legs out of his wheelchair, and hurried outside. He ran into the woods, leaving the seven to themselves.

"We'd better get going," Piper told the six that needed to explain. Daughter of Aphrodite and Jason's girlfriend. Not much else to say. The others nodded, and ran to the lunch area.

"Eugh! What's that thing!?" the same voice yelled. From closer examination, Leo recognized the voice as Connor Stoll, a son of Hermes. _Eugh, huh? I'm just going to take a wild guess, and say that Famine surprised us, and is attacking camp directly, instead of just rotting our apples, and flattening our soda. _Leo ran off to the forest, where Chiron had ran into, and started working on implementing his machines to protect the forest. _Get ready for the Battle of Eternity. Campers vs. Horsemen. _


	3. Famine

The Four Horsemen

Leo had to duck and dodge many tree branches as he ran around the forest outside of camp installing machines. Once or twice he spotted Chiron, shooting arrows at targets unknown, but Leo knew to keep moving and working. Sometimes he'd hear the sounds of the other campers trying to fight Famine, and occasionally he'd hear some voices saying "Come on, die already!" or "Why can't I hurt this thing!?"

As Leo was installing some of the last machines he could have made in the wee hours of the night, he heard one of his traps going off, and a dull moan. _That can't be one of the Horsemen, can it? _Leo didn't want to think about it. He quickly and superbly affixed the last of his traps and machines in the woods, and ran out to the battlefield. What he saw was definitely not something he would have liked to see.

Many campers were on the ground, holding their stomachs in a fetal position, and moaning "So... hungry..." Leo couldn't stop and give them any snacks that he for some reason had on him, so he ran over to the loudest area. He had to jump over a few starving campers, and the occasional harpy, but eventually he reached the most horrid looking thing he had ever seen.

On top of a deathly green horse with pale pink eyes, was a rotting corpse. His matted hair flying in the wind, tattered clothes being blown strongly, but somehow sticking on his body. He had no shoes, worms were crawling in and out of his head, and his sword looked to be rotting somehow as well, but it was as strong as any other immortal sword. _Hello there, Lord Stinkbreath, the one and only Famine._

Large (and highly aggressive) worms squirmed out of the ground from the area around Famine's horse's hooves. Piper was busy slashing them with her dagger. Frank was in the form of a vulture, attempting to pick at Famine's disgustingly rotten body. You could just tell from Frank's vulture-face that he could barely stand the smell, even as a scavenger. Jason and Percy were in the front lines, trying to attack Famine directly, and Hazel and Annabeth were attempting to attack Famine from the side, with no avail.

Oh, should I mention that Famine is about 20 feet tall? Not counting his horse of course. Everyne kept on trying to attack Famine, but he deflected the oncoming attacks quite swiftly, for a decomposing zombie, that is. _What can I even do to help them? _Leo frantically though, and then it hit him.

No, I mean it actually hit Leo. A piece of flesh from Famine had fallen off of who-knows-where, and landed on top of him. For some reason, he was quite hungry. So hungry... _It hurts how hungry I am! _Leo couldn't help but think about homecooked meals his mother used to make, the delicious lunches at Camp, and other delicious sweets that were delivered to Camp once in a literal blue moon. _Which when you think about it, that's not that often. I mean, the moon isn't supposed to be blue. You know, I could go for some blue cheese... _

"LEO!" yelled Annabeth, shaking Leo from his snack-dream. "Come on, get up, you can't be sleeping in the middle of Famine's attack! I barely have enough time to stop and come here. Now hurry and do something!" And she had already ran back and started working with Hazel again. _Right, time to stop thinking about cheeseburgers, and get cracking._

And then not in a literal sense this time, Leo had got it. What's the opposite of hunger, poverty, and rotting? Fresh food of course! _One grill, fire, and charcoal coming up! _He grabbed the grilling supplies out of his belt and started quickly setting up the machine. As soon as the grill was up, he dumped the charcoal into the grill, and lit it on fire.

"Aw yeah, let's get cooking." Leo said, and started grilling some plants in the area that he could find. Hey, as long as he and his friends could choke down grilled flowers, insects, and grasses, they might have a chance. The others were too busy fighting Famine to notice Leo in his apron, spatula, tongs, and grill as he roasted some flowers and other natural products.

The smell was overwhelming. You'd think flowers would give off a nice smell when cooked, but you've never smelled the plants Leo was cooking. _How about I bottle the smell, and call it Eau de Poo? _But as soon as his marketing investments were starting to come to his mind, the plants had finished cooking. Leo had grabbed a flower, and all the rest of the plants and ran to the other six.

"Everyone, take something!" Leo yelled, as he held his hand out with the not-so-appetizing foods in front of him. "And eat them, trust me, it'll stop Famine." The others looked skeptical, except Annabeth.

"Leo, that's a great idea!" Annabeth had exclaimed. "Filling ourselves up will definitely get rid of Hunger." And after hearing Annabeth say the plan was a good idea, the others looked relieved. Until the food was swallowed.

"Ugh... it tastes like burnt mac and cheese!" "More like spoiled tuna!" "Or old candy."  
"Glad you all love my cooking." Leo had joked, as he swallowed a flower. _Let's agree never to eat anything like this again._ As Hazel, the last of the seven to finish had swallowed, Famine was moaning behind them. Apparently the only reason he was doing nothing as they ate, as he couldn't handle the sight and smell of fresh food.

Famine was crumbling, and his corpse-like horse was turning into horse crumbs as well. And for the first time, he had spoken. Leo had wished Famine had not, as his breath smelled like eggs that went into a mold party.

"You may have bested me this time with your flowers and plants, but I am only the first. You will not escape Death! The eldest of my brothers!" Famine had moaned, as the last part of him decomposed. "Beware Death..." And Famine was gone.


	4. Quick Apology Next chapter up this week

Sorry everyone who have been waiting for the next chapter. Had a glitch where I couldn't reach my profile. Next chapter should hopefully be up this week!


	5. Preparation for Pestilence

The Four Horsemen

The day after Leo and the others had finished off Famine, it seemed relatively normal. Lunch was eaten, activities were commenced, and fun was had, but even under the cheerful tone of everyone in camp, everyone knew that soon another Horseman would come. Next to come was supposedly Pestilence, Horseman of Sickness and Diseases. Pestilence was supposed to make everyone contract a disease. _I don't know how he wants us to die from a common cold. _

"Everyone gather round!" Chiron was calling over the voices in the lunch area. Usually when Chiron has an announcement in the middle of lunch, it's something serious. "As you all know, Famine was defeated yesterday none other than the Seven. And before you cheer, I must tell you all something. I have examined the animals and plants around camp, and they all appear to be getting a strange disease. I am going to assume this means Pestilence will attack tomorrow. So be prepared and on your guard. Dismissed."

This caused quite a stir. Everyone starting chattering about plans on what to do, or where to hide. The Ares and Athena kids were making battle plans, Aphrodite kids were fretting over all the flowers outside their houses that were going to be sick, and even the Satyrs were talking to each other on what to do. They are nature spirits after all, in a way.

"So how will we fight Sickness?" asked Annabeth. "I mean, Famine was pretty obvious, but I don't see how we can stall healthy when he can even give us cancer whenever he wants to."

"The only idea I have is somehow getting medicine and trying to cure ourselves of any sickness he gives us," Piper told the others. "I can see what I can do about getting some ambrosia to bring in the battle."

"Good idea, but how in the world will we defend from him otherwise? I mean, he must have a different fighting style from Famine. If they all attacked the same, no one would have died from their attacks," Frank stated.

"We'll just have to defend from him in any way we can. We can't let some Common Cold Colt-rider take over our camp," Leo had stated. "Just block his attacks and keep eating ambrosia."

"Yes, but, what if Famine puts some kind of deathly bacteria on the ambrosia, making it a trap to eat it?" Hazel questioned. "What then?"  
"Then we have no other choice but to die," Percy responded. "Look, it's the only shot we have, we either do it or we dont."

That seemed to end the conversation, and all that came after that was some light battle plan talk, and eventually small talk. Finally, when the moon was starting to rise, everyone headed to their cabins to get some sleep to prepare for the fight coming the next day.

**All right everyone, Jon here, and I just want to tell you guys that I am running out of motivation to do this story. The chapters will most likely be slowing down, and I'm not sure if they'll shrink in size. I'll try my best to keep it interesting, but I'm lacking motivation and imagination to add more into it. Thank you for understanding. THIS IS NOT THE END, just an heads up.**


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